The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has urgently suspended a patient transport service run by Honiton-based Devon Freewheelers, after finding serious concerns during a recent inspection.

The patient transport service, using ambulances, was separate from the Devon Freewheelers' Blood Bikes service and other activities. It had been registered with the CQC since February 2020.

Inspectors visited at the end of April 2021, and their report rated the service inadequate in several areas.

Cath Campbell, CQC's head of hospital inspection, said:

"After inspecting Devon Freewheelers, we took the decision to urgently suspend the patient transport service operation because we believed that people may be exposed to the risk of harm if we did not take urgent action.

"One of the most concerning aspects of our inspection was that we found the patient transport service was offering care and treatment outside the scope of its registration. For example, we found that patients had been given emergency oxygen by staff who did not always have the training or competencies to do so. It is really important that the correct procedures are followed when giving oxygen to patients to prevent people from coming to harm.

"We also found oxygen cylinders were stored unsafely, close to a fuel tank, carrying the risk that a vehicle engine or hot exhaust could ignite the cylinders. And we observed staff smoking next to a vehicle in which oxygen was stored, which is clearly a fire risk.

What did the CQC inspection report say?

The CQC report also said:

• Leaders did not have the skills or knowledge to run their service. During the recruitment of senior staff with directorship responsibilities, information was not obtained to demonstrate they were fit and proper persons to oversee the running of the service.
• Staff did not have the necessary recruitment checks to ensure they were safe to work with patients, and were not assessed for their competency to undertake their role.
• Patient safety was not well managed. Patients' records lacked details about their needs and no assessments were carried out to determine any risks during transfer.
• Staff had no training on how to protect patients from abuse.
• Patient transport vehicles, and some of the equipment stored on them, were not clean and stored safely, and there were no warning signs to identify risks to staff and visitors. In one of the patient transport vehicles, inspectors found a dried substance on top of a suction machine, and there were brown marks on the side of a stretcher trolley.
• The provider did not have valid insurance cover.
• There were out-of-date oxygen and Entonox cylinders in the storage area which could easily have been used by staff by mistake. (Entonox is a medical gas used to help patients manage pain).
• The provider had not reported an outbreak of Covid-19 in February 2021 to the Health and Safety Executive.

What Devon Freewheelers said about the report

In response to the report, Devon Freewheelers said the patient transport service had not been operating since January 2021, when the qualified paramedic employed to run the ambulances left the post. Because of that, the Devon Freewheelers had decided to take the service off the road immediately.

They said the CQC's evaluation was of a 'non-running entity'.

CEO Daniel Roe-Lavery said: "Patient transport utilising ambulances was completely suspended in January and our error was not reporting to the CQC this registration was dormant.

"No regulated CQC patient transport activity has taken place since then and no person was at risk at any time."

The Devon Freewheelers formally deregistered the service with the CQC on July 2.

They also said they had notified the NHS and Public Health England about a Covid outbreak in the patient transport service in November 2020, but had not been aware that they should have told the Health and Safety Executive.

But a spokesman for the CQC said there had been no formal notification that the service was dormant, meaning the patient transport service was still officially registered to operate at the time of the inspection.

He said; "They had staff there, there were issues there that were of concern to us, we have taken action, urgently suspending the service.

"If they were a dormant service I'm sure they could have done something to stop that suspension from happening."

He added that Devon Freewheelers had had the right to appeal against the suspension, and had been given 10 working days to check and respond to the report before it was published.

The Devon Freewheelers say that their 23-page rebuttal of the CQC report has been ignored.

The full report by the Care Quality Commission can be seen here.

The full statement by Devon Freewheelers can be seen here